Biomedical Engineering and Medical Oxygen
BHI’s team of traveling biomedical engineers and technicians has been designing, installing, repairing, and maintaining medical oxygen infrastructure in low-resource settings for over a decade. Medical oxygen is an essential medicine used for treating pneumonia, providing neonatal care, and performing surgery. Now, as the international health community looks towards actionable ways to expand oxygen access beyond the pandemic response, we are glad to be at the forefront of implementing sustainable infrastructure solutions, technical support, and training initiatives to strengthen health systems in the long run.
For more information on servicing oxygen plants, please visit our oxygen technical support site.
BHI's Approach to Medical Oxygen Infrastructure
From the very beginning of its founding, the BHI team has provided technical advisory, including the design, installation, repair, and maintenance of PSA oxygen plants. When the COVID-19 pandemic exposed critical gaps in medical oxygen infrastructure, especially in countries without widespread vaccine access, BHI has since emerged as a trusted leader in strengthening medical oxygen production and delivery systems along with the related infrastructure. Working alongside partners and governments, BHI takes a holistic and multi-faceted approach to strengthening oxygen infrastructure. We actively meet the unique needs of each facility and work to provide advice, assessments, upgrades, and training in low- and middle-income countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Sharing our Oxygen Expertise
Advising and Coordination
In coordination with The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and other international partners, BHI engages with key stakeholders at ministries of health and local communities to provide the technical specifications necessary for oxygen plant procurement and installation. Technical experts on the BHI team perform in-country site-readiness assessments to evaluate what upgrades and alterations to the facility are needed before a PSA plant is installed. The findings from these assessments then guide recommendations for PSA plant size, configuration, specifications, and training programs. Advising and coordination in this manner allows for the implementation of context-appropriate, efficient, and safe oxygen plants.
Assessing & Repairing Infrastructure
Find and Fix
With the support of the Every Breath Counts Coalition, BHI launched the “Find & Fix” initiative to identify and assess all non-commercial oxygen production facilities in the countries susceptible to Covid and other illnesses. Once plants are assessed, BHI’s team of biomedical engineers and specialists work with the hospital staff, ministries of health, and NGO partners to complete identified repair needs and priorities.
Powering Sustainable Solutions
Facilities Upgrades
Access to a reliable power grid remains a challenge in many of the spaces where we work. To run successfully and sustainably, every Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) plant requires a reliable source of power. That is why BHI’s team of electrical engineers complete facilities upgrades to hospitals’ electrical infrastructure. Whether installing solar panels at healthcare facilities that lack consistent access to the electrical grid, or rewiring the facility’s current electrical system for improved efficiency, with each oxygen project BHI completes, power access is top of mind.
Building Capacity
Training
At each facility, BHI ensures that local technicians and hospital administrators have the training they need to maintain oxygen infrastructure and complete future upgrades. Using intensive practical and curriculum-based materials, BHI biomedical engineers intentionally engage and work alongside hospital staff to provide demonstrations, answer questions, and train technicians on the ins and outs of operating and maintaining PSA plants and related infrastructure.
In addition to oxygen system strengthening, BHI provides full biomedical, including full assessment of facility biomedical engineering departments while providing training, recommendations, and ways to improve department operations.
Our Partners
"This oxygen effort that Build Health International is leading is some of the most important work during the pandemic because lack of access to medical oxygen is not only elevating COVID-19 deaths rates, but also deaths among other patients from the tiniest newborn to the oldest patient needing surgery. BHI is doing this work in a way that will continue saving lives with investments in local skills and strengthening health systems for the long-term. The Every Breath Counts Coalition is proud to call BHI a member.”
Leith Greenslade
Director, Every Breath Counts Coalition